The Hidden Social Variables Influencing Asian Americans Socioemotional Wellbeing and Mental Health

Abstract

Past and current research on the sociocultural variables of mental health has been disproportionately focused on Black/White relations. In an effort to see how subjective social status and microaggressions uniquely impact Asian Americans, this paper accounts for changes and indicators in mental health, physiological stress, and emotional intensity. The first sociocultural variable analysed in the paper for effects on emotional health and mental well-being are the ways others perceive Asian Americans and the ways they perceive themselves in the social hierarchy; this is quantified through the use of subjective social status. It is found that Asian Americans (especially children) perceive themselves with lower social status than their white counterparts, and this has negative consequences on self-esteem. It is also concluded that other races perceive Asian Americans as “less American”, which can have negative effects on Asians well-being due to a phenoma called identity denial. The second half of the paper analyses how the external microaggressions influence the ways Asians perceive themselves and if this leads to negative mental consequences. A correlation was found between the frequency of racial microaggressions and worse mental outcomes. However, the harms of microaggressions also affect the physiology of Asian Americans, with them finding an increase in mean arterial blood pressure after a microaggression was done. The impacts of above listed social variables on Asian Americans’ mental health extend far more than a “sting”.